View full sizeJoshua Gunter / Plain Dealer fileCavaliers owner Dan Gilbert smiles as he talks about the passing of Issue 3 alongside Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson in November 2009 at Quicken Loans Arena. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Winning the support of minorities was crucial for the passage of last fall's Issue 3, which will bring casinos to Ohio's four largest urban areas.

Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert and Penn National Gaming, the entities that control the four gambling sites, knew it, too. They personally targeted NAACP leaders across Ohio, promising jobs, which earned them an endorsement from the civil rights group as well as several other influential minority organizations.

But now lawmakers are at odds over how to make sure Gilbert and Penn keep their promises to minorities.

Ohio House Democrats and Senate Republicans this week introduced competing casino enabling language, as required by the Issue 3 constitutional amendment. Of the 40 or so issues addressed in the bills, the two legislative chambers agree right down to nearly the exact wording on all but three topics.

And it is those three issues -- chief among them a diversity hiring plan favored by the House that's absent from the Senate's version of the bill -- that threaten to derail the entire process. And the clock is ticking: Lawmakers must have a bill to the governor by June 3.

"We're not trying to be obstructionist; we're trying to look out for everybody," said Rep. Sandra Williams, a Cleveland Democrat. "Because in the past it has typically been that minorities who help to pass things through and help to get people elected always get the short end of the stick."

The Republican-controlled Senate sees it differently.

"We just don't feel it is in our purview to tell a private employer what the makeup of their contractors or employees should be," said Sen. Jon Husted, a suburban Dayton Republican.

Both Williams and Husted will play major roles in how the disagreements will be settled. The respective bills must clear Statehouse committees they chair: Williams with the House Economic Development Committee and Husted with the Senate Government Oversight Committee.

Representatives of Gilbert and Penn were in Columbus this week to testify on both bills. Thomas Auriemma, Penn's chief compliance officer, and Lloyd Levenson, representing Gilbert, told lawmakers that they would honor their campaign promises to minorities whether it is legislated or not.

In fact, according to Williams, Auriemma told the House committee that Penn already operates casinos in other states that have legislatively mandated diversity plans requiring that a certain percentage of its workers be minorities.

"We believe that if the casino owners agreed to it, then our other colleagues shouldn't have any objection to it," Williams said.

But Husted said Gilbert and Penn should handle their hiring practices without lawmaker influence.

"If they want to have 100 percent minority and labor involvement or zero percent," Husted said, "that is their choice, and it is not the legislature's role to tell them that."

Gilbert controls casinos planned for Cleveland and Cincinnati, and Penn is in Columbus and Toledo. Gilbert and Penn say they can't start construction until the legislature passes a bill. The sides, however, have already started acquiring land to build on. Only Gilbert's land agreement for Cleveland is incomplete.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate are equally divided over how to spend the $200 million in licensing fees ($50 million per casino) that Ohio will eventually get.

Democrats want the money earmarked right away for job training programs, but Republicans say that decision doesn't need to be made until later this year, at the earliest, when the fees are due once a gaming commission is established.

Another sticking point in the dueling bills is the House's language expanding other forms of gambling in Ohio by clearing the way for slot machines at horse-racing tracks and allowing more bingo games and poker rooms for charitable purposes.

Williams said House members believe these other forms of gambling are ready to explode in Ohio anyway, so why not regulate them now. But Husted said Issue 3 requires lawmakers only to pass language for the four planned casinos.

"We don't want people to stick things into this legislation that are not required by the Constitution," Husted said. "This bill was introduced a week ago. We're not going to have a further expansion of gaming basically debated and the door closed on it in two days when we are not required to."

Both Williams and Husted hope to vote the bills out of their committees next week, leaving just one week for compromises to be worked out.

To add to the mix, Gilbert and Penn are still lobbying lawmakers about other issues in the two bills that the legislators have agreed on that the gaming companies want out, like some additional fees and certain power that would be given to the gaming commission.

While Democrats and Republicans introduced their bills hailing the work they had already done in private and declaring most of their heavy lifting done, the few issues still outstanding might end up being the most troublesome.

"Somebody is going to lose," Williams said, "and hopefully it is not the citizens."

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